Under the skin
by Randomonioum
Summary: A tale of crime and romance, set to the background of the DreamKeepers universe.
1. Chapter 1

I like to think I was the first to try a DreamKeepers fanfic, although in most likely hood, I am nowhere NEAR that. Well anyway, first to post one on here, so that has got to count for something, right?

I've taken a few liberties because, well, I lack source material in some areas. But I hope you will find it acceptable.

I do not own anything from the DreamKeepers universe, barring of course any characters of my own creation, and I don't claim to own any- You know what, Dave, Liz, if either of you read this and actually have an issue with it, I will take this down and personally send you a letter of apology. But really, I don't think anything's going to come of this. Anyway, ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

To the outside observer, the city of Andurana is a perfect society. Everyone is different, and so there is nothing to band against and hate. The nightmares are gone, banished to the fairytale and the fable, and so there is no fear. But there is still the baser emotion, which feeds practically everything we do. Scratch the surface, and you will find small, but dedicated bands of criminals and outcasts, who supply the city with what it thinks it doesn't need. People will always want drugs, sex or someone dead, and so there is greed.

Jay rounded the corner of the alley, backing up against the wall, and breathing heavily. Not daring to even check behind him, he slid down into a crouch, and allowed himself a breather. That cop was looking right at him, he must know, he probably saw the top of the bottle poking out from his coat... No, stop that. You can't think like that, not when you are this close. His head between his knees, he tries to control his ragged breath. Marginally successful, he makes to stand again, grabbing a hold of a nearby pipe to drag himself to his feet, and steady him self. His tail still twitching in agitation, he checks his surroundings. The alley, darker than the streets, was nestled between two tall buildings, blocking both the sun and a line of sight to those within. It was fairly well kept, at least as far as most alleys go, and devoid of any sorts of entrances. Bizarre, thought Jay. There's normally a way in from a place like this. Not that it mattered; he was hardly going to make a hit on any of these buildings today. Not with the package he was carrying, and the stakes riding on it. Checking out on the street, it looked like there was no one following him, or at least no one within a distance to jump him. A few people wandered past the opening, stepping into buildings, and stopping to chat. Jay stood for a moment, composing himself for one last time, and took a step out of the alley. Right into another person walking down the street.

"Oh spirits, sorry man, I didn't see you step out, I wasn't paying any attention at all, I should have... are you alright?"

It was all a blur to Jay, as he sees, almost in slow motion, the bottle in his jacket slide out and drop to the floor. It hits the ground with a sound of glass on stone, but miraculously, it doesn't break. Diving to the floor, before the ma can see it, he tries to scoop the bottle up, but the guy is already there. Spirits, he's quick...

"I said, are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Picking the bottle up with trembling fingers, and placing it once more inside his coat, Jay turns to the guy, a wolf with red and orange striped fur, and says,

"It's ok, really, I have to go..."

Why the hell am I so nervous today! That encounter with the cop couldn't have shaken me up that bad, could it? A glimmer or recognition flashed in the wolf's eyes when he looked at the bottle. Could he know..? Jay stood back up straight, and made off down the street, trying his best not to garner any more attention. He could feel that wolf's eyes boring into him from behind, like he knew what he was carrying, and what he was doing. Without another word, he carried on down the street.

Night was approaching as Jay turned up at the front of the shop. The lights from the inside filtered out through the cluttered windows, highlighting the items stacked haphazardly on the shelving units. The white, flaking letters on the window read "Red's Groceries", although the r and e in Groceries was missing. Jay leaned on the door to push it open, and steps inside. Stood behind the counter was a bored looking rat wearing a stained vest, looking up from his doze when the bell on the door rang.

"You're late,"

he says, standing up fully and glaring at Jay, who looks down and to the right, not meeting his gaze.

"I know. I was held up."

Brushing past the counter, he pulls open the door to the stock room, and enters quickly. Devoid of any real 'stock', the back room instead functioned as one of many meeting places for a local crime racket. One that Jay was currently dealing with, and had been for years. This room was as familiar as the flat he lived in, though not in the same good way. Two steps down into a wider room, with a table surrounded with chairs. The walls were bare, with only a few shelving units taking up space on the floor. Again, nothing on those, though that wasn't where the real stock was stored. Sat around there was two men. One was a heavy set gorilla, sat back on the chair with his arms crossed. The more important of the two, was the crocodile, known as 'Grin'. And that was exactly what was on his face when Jay stepped in the room.

"Jay, Jay, Jay. A little late today, aren't we?"

"Like I told your man out front, I was held up. New guy, is he?"

Jay motions over his shoulder, pointing towards the front of the shop. Grin scoffs, and says,

"You know as well as I do that Scratch was slotted last week. I needed someone out front, an' that guy seemed up for a lifting off the streets."

He suddenly leant forwards,

"Why, have you got a problem with it?"

Jay looks down slightly, realising the line was approaching fast, and he should probably stay this side of it. Gorilla man wasn't looking best pleased about his tone. "No problems here." Grin smiles, and leans back again.

"So, have you got my goods?"

Jay doesn't answer, but instead puts his hand in his coat, and draws out the bottle. He tosses it at Grin, who catches it, and holds it up to the light. The dust inside glitters and forms a rainbow across the table.

"A fine sample, I must say. I'll have to pick up some more stock from... whoever this was,"

Grin sighed, handing over the bottle to the gorilla, who got up and went over to a panel on the wall. Peeling it off, he placed the bottle inside, next to a wooden box and large springer. Grin turns back to Jay, and comments "So, have you got anything else you want to add to this fine meeting?"

"Not today, I don't."

Grins face turns sour, and he rumbles

"Then get the hell out of my shop. We'll contact you when we have another job."

Jay turns quickly, and walks out through the front, barely looking at the rat on the way out. Stood outside, in the dark, he leans against the wall of the shop, and rests his head in his hands. Working for the bloody crime syndicates. It wasn't a glamorous lifestyle, by any stretch of the word. And when he finished working off his debt, he would probably still have to work for them. He'd seen it before, people trying to leave, and getting slotted for knowing too much. No way was he going to give THAT a go. Jay turns to leave, hands in his pockets, and begins to walk down the road, when he hears "Figures."

He turns around, looking towards the sound of the voice, to see a figure walking down the dark road towards him. It was that wolf again! He looked almost angry, though it was hard to tell in the faded light.

"What do you want?"

Jay shouted out to him. "Well, I was suspicious when I saw the bottle you were carrying. Raindust isn't just something you see in the streets, you know. So, I followed you. I didn't think those low lives had the lucre for a slice like that. Where'd they get it from?" He was only a few feet away now, and Jay could see he was holding something behind his back.

"Listen mate, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm gonna go now, an-"

Thats all he got out before a blur, a flash of bright light, and a deep black filled his vision.


	2. Chapter 2

A searing pain along the left side of his head brought Jay to consciousness. He grunted, lifting his head slightly and opening his eyes. He struggled through a dry, flaky mess that was covering the left side of his face, and glimpsed a bare gray room, covered in unidentifiable stains. It was too much, though, and the pain forced him to drop his head back down to his chest. Trying to bring his hand around to feel his head, it is brought up short by a rope tying him to a chair that he is sitting in. Oh god, he thought, what the hell is going on? What happened? He tried to think of what happened in the lead up to his present situation, but the pain made it too difficult to concentrate. Unable to do anything worthwhile, he instead sufficed to sit and swear softly into his chest fur.

An undeterminable time later, it was hard to tell with the lighting, Jay woke up again. He didn't even remember dozing off again. This time, however, there was another figure in the room. Through his half open eyes, he couldn't tell who it was, but that was soon rectified.

"Oh grand, your awake. I thought the blow had put you in a coma for a while there."

It was that damn wolf again! His voice was softer this time, almost apologetic. Jay struggled to form the words he wanted to say.

"Why... what the... where... what happened?"

At least, that was what he tried to say. What came out was more of a mix between a slur and a groan.

The wolf leant in closer, crouching down in front of Jay, and said, "Speak up, I can't make out what you're saying. Spirits, that blow must have been worse than we thought..."

Jay focused for a second, making sure to speak more slowly this time, "What... happened... to me?"

The wolfs voice turns sour, a far cry from the soft tone he had before, "I was trying to talk to you, about what you were carrying yesterday, when my 'buddy'," He spits the word out, and gestures behind Jay "Here, thought you were going for a weapon, and decided to smack you out for the count. Though he was a bit too enthusiastic..."

Jay grunts in response, and tries to spit out some more words.

"Mother...fucker... nearly took my-"

The rest of the words were lost in an almighty cracking noise, and the pain in the left side of his head erupting in a greater pain than he ever felt from it. He barely registered the impact with the ground, as his vision swam and faded to black, his hearing went fuzzy and echoed, and he teetered on the edge of unconsciousness. He could barely hear shouting above him, a far away voice bellowing,

"GROT! Get the FUCK out of here, right FUCKING NOW!

A short series of thumps, a slam and then silence. Jay couldn't help a small sob escape his lips. The pain was too much for him. He didn't want this at all. It was hopeless, they were probably going to kill him anyway. And what for? A bottle of something he had never seen before. Content to lie there and try not to cry while he was left alone for a while, his senses slowly returned to normal, and the pain dulled down to a low ache that was ever present before the blow. Before he could get _too_ comfortable, however, he felt a soft paw on his shoulder. Squinting up, he could see the wolf looking down on him. His voice was soft again, softer, in fact. It was like he was making up for his anger before. "Are you ok? Grot tends to get angry easily."

Jay tried to grunt out some more words, but that set off a new pain in his jaw, which must have hit the ground hard. He could taste blood as he moved his teeth. Another groan escaped him before he could stop it. The wolf made a frustrated noise, and said "Are you alright to move? I can't keep you down there, it'll just make things worse..." Without waiting for a reply, he grabs Jay under the arms, and shifts the chair quickly onto its four legs. The pain was bad, but not as bad as from the blow. Still, Jay whined and gritted his teeth against it, eliciting a quick and embarrassed "Sorry" from the wolf. Letting the pain drift from his mind, Jay waited for the next attack.

"Look, you shouldn't even be in this mess. If I had my own way, you would have told me what you knew in the streets, and you would have been back at home, asleep. But seeing as you're here... I'm Kodiak." He sat down next to Jay, legs stretched out on the floor. "I... Well, we, needed to talk to you 'cos that guy you're working for? Grin, isn't it? He's stepping on some toes out there. Likely hood is, him and his boys are going to get wiped in the next few weeks." He taps Jay on the leg. "Unfortunately, that means you too."

Jay groaned again, the hopeless thoughts he'd suppressed from before rising up to claim his as their victim, the panic beginning to form again. Something must have got through though, as Kodiak started speaking again, "Look, man, I wish there was something I could do, but you're with his boys now..."

Jay tried to speak, and found it a little easier now his jaw wasn't pushing against a solid stone floor. "I was just... paying off a debt..."

Kodiak perks up at this, his ears twitching Jay's way. "Your debt? Where'd you get that from?"

Jay coughed, and carried on, stronger this time, "My brother. He had a lot... of gambling problems. Owed the wrong people... too much money. Got trampled by a... ground car. Grins folks thought to... shift the debt over to me. Been paying it off for months... with their jobs."

Sat in thought for a moment, Kodiak stood up. "I think I might... Look, I'll be back later. I'll see what I can do about... something, I don't know." He walked over to the door, and stopped for a moment, before turning back and pulling something from his belt. The bindings holding Jay to the chair fell away, and he rubbed his wrists to try and get some circulation back. "I can do this much at least. Try to get some sleep, I'll be back when I know more." He stepped out of the room, and pushed the door shut, sliding a bolt into place. The bang of the bolt in the room echoed for a moment, before fading to nothing, and leaving Jay in utter silence. Deciding to take Kodiak up on his advice, he sat down in the corner of the room, curling his arms and legs around himself to try and stay warm. They had taken his coat, it seems, and his shirts and trousers weren't doing much to keep the warm in. Despite the discomfort, sleep came easily, and he drifted off into a world of pain and nightmare.


End file.
